Sitting down on Monday with Mr Alvin Davidson was such an uplifting experience that even a wordsmith like myself will have trouble explaining but I will give it my best shot.
My ties to Cavalier Park are only five years deep and I’m in the middle of trying hard to create a time-line story in regards to just how the jewel of a place came about. Cause and Effect is going to be the title for the third of the Book, Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend.
Because Mr Donaldson had two daughters that wore the Lady Cavaliers jersey back to back, Alvin is qualified to take the torch 🔦 for an eight year span (2009-2016).
Our conversation started at 11am and wrapped up a bit before 2pm so its safe to say that we covered a tremendous amount of ground. When I asked Alvin how I should describe him, his answer was ” A Softball Dad 👨 who loves the Game.”
Older daughter Lindsey and little Sister Gracie gave Dad a reason to be front and center at Cavalier Park for eight years but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Donaldson Family 👪. The amount of stories about the Travel teams were priceless, especially the ones about little Gracie being a part of Lindsey’s group when she was just five or six years old.
Alvin Davidson is a 1983 graduate 🎓 of Carroll County High School 🏫, a very good year as it included fellow Senior, Tammy Quesenberry. His ties to this community run deep and include a position on the current School Board
Two names that came up in our conversation about The Park were Brad Nester and Gene Kimball. While I have never had the pleasure of meeting either one of these two gentlemen, I would welcome the opportunity.
Kimball worked on the playing field religiously and his daughter Lilly played. Brad Nester is Sydney’s Dad and was instrumental in a number of improvements during her time on The Hill.
The goal here is to magnify every single step along the journey that led to the Park that now sparkles south of The Boulevard. Passing of the baton or next person up if you will, is how something like this gets created.
If this goes as planned, Alvin will be able to fill a chapter of the book 📖 and then some !
Another name that came up was 2023 Graduate 🎓, Macie Adkins. It turns out that Macie was a student at Laurel while Davidson was Principal
Macie Adkins is another version of a role model for younger Lady Cavaliers, the ones that are currently working on their game in hopes of representing the program in years to come. Adkins just wrapped up her two year playing career at Southwest Virginia Community College where she doubled up as Team MVP and Dean’s List Student. The impressive young Lady is part of our Game Day experience at Cavalier Park when she is in town.
Because I envision Alvin filling out a large portion of the story, I will refrain from borrowing his material in this Nugget, minus ➖ one exception.
When the topic turned to Cheyenne Strickland and her mad skills, both Athletic and Academic, Davidson shared a story about a play that occurred in a game versus Floyd County.
Gracie was in the circle 🔵 and there was a runner 🏃♂️ on second base. The batter sent a shot headed towards left center until Strickland climbed the ladder, gloved the line drive and in the same motion returned to earth 🌎, applying the tag to the base runner trying to get back to second base.
The Art to telling a story is a combination of passion and knowledge. Alvin Davidson is that kinda of a person who I’m looking forward to working with!
A.S.P.N on The Hill 